LGBTQIA+
You want to know whether my practice is welcoming for you. Wholeheartedly, yes.
My commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community is not an add-on. Everything here is for you. I have been working with lesbian, gay, bi, trans and nonbinary clients since day one, fifteen years ago.
This is not a specialty sitting beside the rest of my work. It is inside all of it.
Questions you might be asking
My family, or my church, has not accepted me.
So many feelings come with this. We are here for you.
Will you use my correct pronouns?
Yes, and your name.
You are a Gottman therapist. Was that research done on same-sex couples?
The early research was mostly straight married couples. Since then, Gottman and Levenson followed same-sex couples for twelve years, and the first outcome study of Gottman Method therapy with gay and lesbian couples came out of the Gay Couples Institute in San Francisco, co-authored with John and Julie Gottman.
Your Placerville office is in a conservative county.
It is, and the drive does not feel the same for everyone. Our building, including the hipster coffee shop downstairs, is friendly, and right next to parking. Our waiting room is quiet and private, where you can safely hold hands.
I am coming out later in life, and I am married.
Coming out at fifty is not a late version of coming out at twenty. There are decades in the room, and people who have been loved.
One of us is transitioning.
One of you is becoming yourself. Couples and families often face conflicting feelings and layers of change during this life-changing time.
Is non-monogamy accepted here?
Yes. I have worked with non-monogamous and poly couples for many years, and truly understand the care and nurturing these relationship agreements take to make and keep healthy.
Will your forms use my name, or my legal name?
We use your name and pronouns. Insurance companies require your legal name, so our forms ask for it, and it is used only if you ask us for a superbill to seek reimbursement.
What services are available to me?
All of them.
Every service. Our values, and the way we work. You are safe with us.
On what is being done to this community right now.
The legislative and cultural attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community are doing real harm. I see it in my office, and in our neighborhoods. Fear and grief and exhaustion in people who are simply trying to live their lives.
I abhor it, and I would rather say so plainly than stay neutral. Neutrality is its own position, and it is not mine.
My profession has said the same, in public and on the record. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Psychological Association's Division 44 have all opposed these laws as contrary to good care. Our practice stands with them, and with you.
Get in touch
Either one reaches Jaclyn, our Manager of Client Services. She will answer your questions for as long as you need.
We reply as soon as we can, and no later than two business days. Offices in San Francisco and Placerville, and telehealth anywhere in California.